The Anti-Defamation League wants black leaders who attended Louis Farrakhan's Detroit speech last week to condemn the Nation of Islam leaders remarks of "satanic Jews" and such.
Perhaps some will, but this contrition would be manufactured.
It's not as though Farrakhan suddenly started spouting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories without warning. He does this all the time. In 1984, Farrakhan favorably compared himself and the Nation of Islam's work to Hitler's efforts to rebuild Germany. He all but sang Springtime for Hitler (without irony) in praise of the Furher .
"The Jews don't like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler," he said nearly 30 years ago. "Well, that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He wasn't a great man for me as a black person, but he was a great German. Now, I'm not proud of Hitler's evils against Jewish people, but that's a matter of record. He raised Germany up from nothing. Well, in a sense you could say there's a similarity in that we are raising our people up from nothing."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which usually devotes its time to exposing KKK terrorists and neo-Nazis, says of the Nation of Islam:
"Its bizarre theology of innate black superiority over whites — a belief system vehemently and consistently rejected by mainstream Muslims — and the deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric of its leaders, including top minister Louis Farrakhan, have earned the NOI a prominent position in the ranks of organized hate."
They Got What They Paid For
Everyone in that audience -- from Congressman John Conyers to local NAACP leader Wendell Anthony to Detroit City Councilwoman Joann Watson -- knew exactly the kind of show Farrakhan puts on. Clearly, they made their peace with Farrakhan's bigotry before taking their seats. Unless you were born the day before or are a clinical moron, you simply can't be surprised that he said something anti-Semitic.
The better question is why so many prominent people give this crank the time of day. Even when someone employs the Marge Schott Fallacy (good ideas . . . something something . . . went too far) to defend Farrakhan, you have to question the veracity of the "good ideas" portion of that dubious defense.
Before his latest comments about how President Obama "surrounded himself with Satan . . . members of the Jewish community" became public-- is someone looking for a gig on the Tea Party circuit? -- there was grudging local praise for Farrakhan's everyone donate a dollar and buy Detroit land "plan." The problem is he doesn't actually have a plan.
There were no details about who would raise this money, who would administer it, what it would buy, or how donors' ownership stake in this community partnership would be vested.
Brainstorming Without Brainpower
Farrakhan's scenario was nothing more than empty conjecture. It was an idea, like the millions of similar ideas idly floated at the ends of bars all across the planet. Tell you what, if we all got together and did X, then Y would be fantastic. Another round!
Farrakahn has made a lucrative career of combining appeal to ignorance populism of your William Jennings Bryans, your Huey Longs, and your Michele Bachmanns with daffy theological ramblings that rival L. Ron Hubbard, Peter Popoff, and Rev. Ike.
This is not surprising. No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public, black or white. The surprising thing about Farrakhan, as well as other prominent extremists like Alex Jones, is that seemingly respectable leaders are increasingly willing to endorse these lunatics.
The ADL is mistaken in their attempts to extract apologies and redeem those who were with Farrakhan in Detroit last week. The apologies would be insincere, at best, and any redemption would be counter-productive. When mainstream figures get down in the muck to pander to extremists, the responsibility of an open society is not to show these leaders the error of their ways. Rather, we need to leave them in the muck and replace them with better minds.
